Two-Thirds of the World Has Herpes, Health Group Says

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More than 3.7 billion people in the world have herpes.

Two-thirds of the globe’s population has herpes, according to the World Health Organization.

That’s more than 3.7 billion people under the age of 50, or 67% of the population, the organization said Friday. There are two types of the herpes simplex virus, an infectious and incurable condition. HSV-1 is primarily transmitted through oral-oral contact and causes cold sores around the mouth, while HSV-2 is sexually transmitted and causes genital herpes.

But the new WHO study shows that HSV-1 can also cause genital herpes through oral sex. Now, over half-a-billion people between ages 15 and 49 have genital herpes caused by either strain of the herpes virus.

This post originally appeared on time.com. To read more, go to time.com.